Ribbon mechanism for type-writers.



Patented May 29, I900. H. L. &. F. X. WAGNER.

RIBBON MECHANISM FORTYPE WRITERS.

(Application filed. Mar. 18, 1899.)

3 Sheets-Sheet (No Model.)

. N m. a F 4 \w w v WITNESSES INVENTURS W ec/ nuwm ATTORNEYS THE humusPETERS no. wow-Luna. WASNINGTQN. 0. cv

No. 650,438. Patented May 29, I900.

H. L. &. F. X. WAGNER.

RIBBON MECHANISM FOR TYPE WRITERS.

(Application fil ed Mar. 13, 1899.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 (No Model.)

WITNESSES: W

ATTORN EYS m: NSRFIS PEYERS co, Pacts-Una. WASHINGTON, D c.

No. 650,438 Patented May 29, I900. H. L. &. F. X. WAGNER.

RIBBON MECHANISM FOR TYPE WRITERS.

(Application filed Max. 13, 1899.) v

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

WITNESSES: lNVNLO RS BY v jnum Q ATTOR ZYS .m: Nam-us vETERs on.morn-urns" wnnmsm'u, ov c.

NITED TATES PATENT ()nnrcn.

HERMAN L. WVAGNER AND FRANZ X WVAGNER, OF NEWV'YORK, N. Y., AS-

RIBBON MECHANISM FOR TYPE-WRITERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 650,438, dated May 29,1900.

Original application filed July '7, 1897, fierial No. 643,688. Dividedand this application filed March 13, 1899. Serial No.

708,952. (No model.)

ism for type-writers; and said invention con-.

sists in the novel arrangement and combinar tion of parts to behereinafter described and claimed.

I The object of the invention is to provide efficie'nt means forsupporting and operating the ribbon-spools in such a manner as toprevent the ribbon from escaping therefrom.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters indicatecorresponding parts in the Various views, Figure 1 is a centraltransverse vertical section of the machine.

2 5 Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the machine, taken to oneside of the center thereof. Fig. 3 is a top detail view of theribbon-spools and certain of the parts which cooperate therewith. Fig.4. is a face view of the same. Fig. 5 is a detail rear view of thehand-operated controlling-lever for controlling the direction-of feed ofthe ribbon,'as will be hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawings, 1 repre 3 5 sents the framing of atype-writing machine,

in which the various working parts are mounted. The machine is providedwith a reciprocating carriage'2, which has a verticallyshiftable platen3, carried by an independout casing 4, and is supported, together withits casing, in bearings 5, (see Fig.'2,)'carried by links 6, which aresecured to a rod 7, one

of said links being provided at each end of the machine. Cooperatingwith the platen 3 are various feed-rollers 7*, carried by theplaten-casing. These parts are carried or supported upon a roller 8,which is carried by the platen-casing at and bears upon a rail 9, eachend of which is connected to a bellcrank lever 10.

In order to prevent the roller 8 and the parts supported thereby frommoving away from the rail 9 when the parts are shifted vertically, weprovide a pivoted arm 11, which is carried by the platen-casing andtakes under the rail, as clearly shown in Figs. land 2 of the drawings.A' spring 12 bears upon the pivoted arm 11 and tends to normallymaintain the said arm in the position illustrated. The.platen-supporting].evers 10 are pivoted to the framing of the ma- 6ochine, as indicated at 13, and are themselves united by a rock-shaft 14,so that motion. transmitted to one of the levers will cause the one atthe opposite end of the framing to receive a corresponding movement.-The platen-supporting levers 10 and the parts supported thereby arenormally maintained in the elevated position by the retractile spring15, which is secured to a fixed portion of the framing atone end, asindicated at 16, 7c and is adj ustably connected to a rack 17, carriedby one of said levers, as indicated at 18, in order to regulate thetension exerted by said spring. 2 This connection is preferably broughtabout bya hook-like portion formed on the free end of a spring, which isadapted to engage the rack, as indicated in Fig.2 of. the drawings. Ashift-key lever 19 is pivoted, as indicated at 20, and is normallymaintained in the elevated position by a spring 21. This shift-key leveris provided with a shift-key 22 and with an upwardly-projecting arm 23,which carries a stud 24 on each side thereof, which is adapted toprevent the displacement of the arm 23 from the position where it willcontact with the depending arm 25 of one of the levers 10. One or moreof these. shift-key levers may be provided to shift the platen to theupper-case position, andthe form of lever shown or any suchsuitablemeans may 99 be employed for this purpose.

Pivoted in a segmental plate 26 is a series of type-bars 27, asindicated at 28. Each of these type-bars is pivotally connected to alink 29, as indicated at 30, and the links 29 are pivoted to a fixedportion of the machine, as indicated at 3] and are each connected at thelower end thereof to akey-1ever32, as indicated at 33. The key-leversare pivoted to a fixed portion of the machine, as indicated at 34. Eachof the type-bars 27 is provided with an abutment 35, (see Fig. 1,) whichis adapted to bear against a Segmental universal bar 36 and transmitmotion thereto before the type on the type-bar comes in contact with thepaper on the platen. This segmental bar 36 is connected to areciprocating table 37, which is pivotally connected to arms 38, securedto a rock-shaft 39. The table 37, just described, carries suitablefeed-pawls, which are adapted to cooperate with a rack 40, carried bythe paper-carriage, and a reciprocation of the tablewill giveastep-by-step feed movement to the carriage in the ordinary manner.

The mechanism so fardescribcd constitutes the usual construction of awell-known Underwood type-writing machine, and only a generaldescription thereof is therefore given in order that a betterunderstanding of the present invention .may be had. Rigidly connected tothe rock-shaft 39 is a toe 41, which is provided with a slot 42, inwhich a crank-pin 43 engages. This crank-pin 43 is carried by an arm 44,rigidly connected to a rock-shaft 45.

The lower end of this toe 41 cooperates with the free end 46 of aspacing-lever 47, which is pivoted,.as indicated at 48, and is providedat itsouter end with the usual spacing-key 49. By this arrangement itwill be observed that a rocking motion is transmitted to the rockshaft45 when the spacing-key 49 is depressed or when any one of thefinger-keys connected with the key-levers 32 is operated. This latterresult is brought about by the reciprocation of the table 37 byatype-bar 27,

- just before the type thereon comes in contact with the paper on theplaten. The motion transmitted to the table 37 to feed the car riageoscillates the arm 38, which is rigidly connected to the rock-shaft 39,and thus transmits motion to the toe 41, which oscillates the rock-shaft45. Connected to the rockshaft 45, near each end of the machine, is anarm 50, to which a pawl 51 is pivoted, as indicated at 52. This pawl 51is supported at its free end upon a spring 53, which is connected to ablock 54, that is united to a bar 55. This bar 55 extends across themachine from end to end and is pivoted at the center thereof, asindicated at 56 in Fig. 5 of the drawings. Connected to the bar 55 is aspringarm 57, which is provided at its free end with a handle 58 and isadapted to move in a slot 59 in the upright extension 60 (see Fig. 5) oftheframing. This slotted portion 59 of the upright extension 60 isrecessed, as indicated at 61, and a corresponding projection 62 iscarried by the spring-arm 57 and adapted to engage in either one of therecesses 61 to maintain the bar 55 in either of the adjusted positions.The block 54, connected to each end of this pivoted bar 55, likewisecarries a non-reciprocatin g pawl 63, and each of which is adapted tocooperate with a corresponding ratchet-wheel 64. It will thus beunderstood that the pawls 51 and 63 at one end of the machine aremaintained out of engagement with their coo peratin g ratchet-wh eelwhen the pawls at the other end of the machine are in engagement withtheir corresponding ratchetwheel and that a movement of thehand-operated bar 55 will simultaneously throw the pawls at one end ofthe machine out of engagement with their cotiperating ratchetwheel whenthe pawls at the other end of the machine are thrown into engagementwith their cooperating ratchet-wheel. Adjustably secured, as by means'ofa set-screw 65, to a .fixed portionof the framing is a cam 66,whichprojects beyond the periphery of a ratchetwheel, as indicated in Fig. 2of the drawings, and against which the reciprocating pawl 51 is adaptedto bear in its movement in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2. One ofthese cams 66 is provided for each of the ratchetwheels 64, and when apawl 51 is reciprocated the free end thereof is adapted to cont-act in 1its forward movement with its corresponding cam 66 and to disengage thepawl from its ratchet-wheel. It is obvious that an adj ustment of thecam 66 will cause the reciprocating pawl 51 when in its operativeposition to disengage the ratchet-wheel during any desired extent of themovement of the pawl in a direction opposite to that of the feed andwill prevent a reengagement of said pawl with the ratchet-wheel until itagain comes in contact with a point on the cam where it was thrown outof engagement. Thus a reciprocating pawl maybe caused to engage adjacentteeth or may be allowed to travel the distance of two or more teethbefore it engages a ratchet-wheel to step it intermittently the distanceof one or more teeth, as desired. hen one of the pawls 51 is in theinoperative or lowered position, it will be maintained out of contactwith its cooperating ratchetwheel 64, and the reciprocation of the pawlwill be ineifective to transmit motion to the ratchet-wheel. Each of theratchet-wheels 64 is connected to a spindle 67, which carries abevel-gear 68, that meshes with a corresponding bevel-gear 69, whichlatter bevel gear is connected to asuitably-mounted vertical orsubstantially-vertical spindle 7 O, that projects through a spool-casing71 and is adapted to receive the spool 7 2 thereon. This spindle has aflange 73 secured thereto,

and from this flange projects a pin 74, that is adapted to engage in acorresponding reoess in the ribbon-spool, or other suitable means may beemployed to form a connection between the spindle and the ribbon-spoolin order to operate the same. To preferably provide each of theratchet-wheels 64 with a handle 75, by means of which either of theratchet-wheels can be rotated by hand independently of the automaticoperation thereof to move the ribbon by hand in either direc tion inaccordance with the handle which is operated. I

IIS

From the foregoing it will be understood that the motion transmitted tothe reciprocating pawls in the manner described will operate to move theribbon the distance of one or more teeth of the ratchet-wheel 64, asdesired, at each operation of a key-lever or spacing-key and that thenon-reciprocating pawl 63 which cooperates with each ratchetwheel willwhen in the operative position maintain the wheel against reversemovement when the pawl 51 is being fed in the direction of the arrowinFig. 2 of the drawings.

The improved means forsupporting the ribbon-spools to prevent the escapeof the ribbon therefrom will now be described. ,It has been commonheretofore to support ribbon-spools so that the laminae or layers ofribbon will be vertically supported upon the spools, and should theribbon become slack there would be a liability of the ribbon droppingfrom the spools. Special reference being had to Fig. 2 of the drawings,it will be seen that each of the ribbon-spools 72 is maintainedcentrally upon the spindle 70, to which it is secured and that below andpartly surrounding the ribbon-spool is a casing 71, which is apertured,as indicated at 7G, (see Figs. 3 and 4; of the drawings,) for thepassage of a ribbon 77, and above the aperture 76 in the ribbon-spoolcasing projects a guidefinger 7 S, which prevents the ribbon from beingwithdrawn upwardly from the spool or casing during the operation of themachine, allowing, however, of the ready removal of the ribbon when thesame is carried to a position which it does not normally have when themachine is in operation, as indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawings. It willbe observed that by these means the ribbon is prevented from droppingoff the spool, the casing acting as a guide for the ribbon in case ofslack being had or there being a tendency to unwind. The outward limitof movement of the ribbon being controlled by the casing, a furtheroperation of the machine will tend to take up the slack andautomatically tighten and straighten the laminze of ribbon on the spool.The ribbon is conveyed from spool to spool in any desired manner. In thepresent instance we have shown it as being conveyed to a ribbon-guide 79, which is likewise preferably provided with arms 80, that constitute aguide for the type-bars.

The invention in this case is illustrated in connection with the well-known Underwood type-writin g machine, though it should be understoodthat the invention may be ap plied to a type-writing machine of anywellknown or preferred construction and that various changes inconstruction and arrangement may be made to adapt the invention totype-writing machines of difierent types.

' Having described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is-- In a type-writing machine, the combination with apair of disconnected ribbon-spools of a casing for each of said spoolssecured against movement to the framing of the machine and eachsurrounding its spool cireumferentially for at least a portion of theextent thereof, each of said casings being in the nature of anopen-mouth pocket in which its spool is adapted to rotate and from whichsaid spool may be removed, a substantially vertical spin-' dle adaptedto pass through the perforation in the bottom of each of saidpocket-like casings means for connecting a spool to rotate with each ofsaid spindles and means con trolled by the spacing mechanism forrotating said spindles in opposite directions.

HERMAN L. WAGNER. FRANZ X. XVAGNER. Witnesses: MAURICE BLocK,

CHARLES E. SMITH.

